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Greg Hands, Member of Parliament for Chelsea & Fulham, welcomes the news that the Buses Directorate at Transport for London (TfL) has signaled its intention to abandon plans to curtail the 424 bus route.

TfL’s proposals would have meant that the 424 bus would no longer go through the heart of Fulham – where it currently provides a vital service to many local residents, especially the elderly and those in sheltered housing, being the only direct bus service in Sands End. Instead, the route would have gone just over Wandsworth Bridge rather than to Putney High Street. The three Conservative Hammersmith & Fulham councillors for Sands End – Robert Largan, Jane Law, and Steve Hamilton – launched a campaign to save the 424 bus route. The councillors’ petition received more than a thousand signatures from concerned local residents, and was delivered to the then Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, by Greg Hands last year.

However, due to the ‘very negative response to the consultation’ in January this year – and, no doubt, to the impact of the Conservative councillors’ petition – the Buses Directorate has now indicated that it will recommend that Transport for London abandon the proposed curtailment of the 424 bus route.

Commenting on the news, Member of Parliament for Chelsea & Fulham, Greg Hands, said: “It’s great news that TfL is planning to drop its proposed curtailment of the 424 bus route, and it’s a direct result of the hard work carried out by the three Conservative Sands End ward councillors who fought hard to save the 424 route for local residents.

“I’d like to join the Sands End councillors in thanking the several thousand local residents who supported their campaign, and in particular the group who presented their petition to me at my constituency surgery last year.”

“While the decision to abandon the proposed curtailment of the 424 bus route still needs to be agreed at the highest level, I shall continue to campaign with the local councillors to defend the route.”